Chapter II. On the Office of the Minister

The offices by which the Minister of the sacrament of Penance is bound, some must be exercised in the very act of confession and others after the confession has been heard.

§ 1. Let the priest remember in hearing confessions that he sustains alike the person of judge and of physician, and that he has been constituted by God the minister at once of divine justice and mercy, so that he may consult the divine honor and the salvation of souls.

§ 2. Let him altogether beware lest he inquire the name of an accomplice; lest he detain anyone with curious or useless questions, especially concerning the sixth precept of the Decalogue; and especially lest he imprudently question younger persons about those things which they do not know (Can. 888).

§ 1. Pastors and others to whom the care of souls is entrusted by virtue of office are held by a grave obligation of justice to hear, either personally or through another, the confessions of the faithful committed to them, as often as these reasonably ask to be heard.

§ 2. When necessity urges, all confessors are held by an obligation from charity to hear the confessions of the faithful; and in danger of death all priests are so held (Can. 892).